Special Service and Features
38th National Convention of Chemical Engineers and National Conference on Digitization of Chemical Process Industry and Golden Jubilee Celebrations of IE, Trichy Local Centre
The Institution of Engineers  organized the 38th National Convention of Chemical Engineers and a National Conference on the Digitization of the Chemical Process Industry. The event took place at the Department of Chemical Engineering, NIT Trichy, on the 7th and 8th of September 2023. Additionally, IE, Trichy Local Centre, celebrated its Golden Jubilee.
The inaugural event occurred on September 7th. Er. B. Balasubramanian, Chairperson of IE, TLC, extended a warm welcome to all dignitaries and participants. Dr. M. Arivazhagan, Professor and Head of the Chemical Engineering Department, provided an overview of the convention and conference. Mrs. Shilpa Tripathi, Chairperson of the Chemical Engineering Board at IE, delivered a special address. Er. S. M. Ramanathan, General Manager in Charge of BHEL, Trichy, served as the chief guest during the inauguration. In his address, he emphasized the significance of digitization in process industries and power plants. Dr. G. Aghila, Director of NIT Trichy, the Guest of Honour, underscored the importance of collaboration between industry and higher education institutes in automating process industries. The function was presided over by Er. Shivanand Roy, President of IE, who explained the role of digitization and its future scope. During this program, three eminent engineers were honored: Mr. Ashok Panjwani, Executive Director of United Phosphorous Limited, Ankleshwar; Shri K. S. Kasi Viswanathan, Managing Director of SPB; and Dr. Raghunathan Rengasamy, Professor of Chemical Engineering at IIT Madras. Three young engineer award winners, Dr. Himanshu Pradeep from RNG Patil Institute of Technology, Gujarat; Dr. Noel Jacob Kalekkal from NIT Calicut; and Dr. Siksha Swaroopa Kar from CRRI, New Delhi, were also recognized. The Eminent Engineer and Young Engineer award winners shared their expertise. During the convention, past and present office bearers of IE in Trichy and other local centers were felicitated. Finally, Dr. S. Karuppasamy, Organizing Secretary of the event, proposed the vote of thanks. The Sir Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr. G. A. Pathanjali, Managing Director of High Energy Batteries. Eleven invited talks featured top managers from SPB, TNPL, Dalmia Cements, BHEL, Montiopro, and experts from IIT, NIT, IGCAR Kalpakkam, and NMRL, Mumbai. They discussed the past, present, and future of digitization in respective process industries, along with challenges and development prospects.
In addition to the invited talks, the two-day event included other activities, such as a panel discussion with eminent personalities from industry and institutes and technical sessions where research scholars from top higher educational institutes presented their research findings.
Dr. A. Arunagiri welcomed all dignitaries to the valedictory event. Dr. K. Muthukumar, Professor of Chemical Engineering, summarized the proceedings of the two-day event. The Er D Banu Prasad, Chief GM of TNPL, Unit II of Board Production, Trichy and Dr G A Pathanjali, Managing Director of High Energy Batteries was the chief guest and guest of Honour of the Valedictory function respectively. Best paper awards and participation certificates were distributed and Dr. Kevin Ark Kumar, Honorary Secretary of IE, TLC, expressed gratitude to everyone for the successful completion of the event.